the public complained and blamed president clinton, but after a while the numbers went up. gingrich himself said it was the single most avoidable mistake house speaker. you can never be sure how these are going to play. it's a big gamble. >> he was time magazine's man of the year and he plummeted in popular support where he was at 16% favorable. that is just a little bit south of donald trump on a slow wednesday. that's really bad numbers. he never fully recovered from it. this is what the political backdrop is heading into this confrontation. the president's numbers are at the highest point in the past three years going back to late 2009 in his late honeymoon and republicans are at the lowest. he does have a political advantage, make no mistake about it. some republicans understand this but the core of the republicans in the house want this confrontation. >> if my emails are any indication, they are fed up with this and washington. >> there's no one to make a deal with right now on the republican side. they're very divided. a lot of republicans to have been around for awhi